Vancouver’s The Province Calls The L.A.Kings A “Cautionary Tale.”

It feels like a lifetime ago, but when the Canucks met the L.A. Kings two years ago in the first round of the playoffs, it seemed like the first of many bloody battles between the two teams.

The Canucks, to that point at least, were a year further along in their development and would outlast the Kings in a rollicking six-game series that was memorable for several reasons.

The two teams produced, sigh, 43 goals, including 10 power-play goals by the Kings. The Kings actually held a 2-1 series lead and 3-2 edge heading into the third period of Game 4 when the Sedins and Mikael Samuelsson turned things around.

The hockey was fast, wide-open and, get this, entertaining, and the lasting impression was of two teams trending in the same direction; two teams that had assembled a core group of emerging talent that would insure their future success and put them on a collision course for years to come.

“I thought they were going to be a big rival, for sure,” Henrik Sedin said in advance of Monday night’s game.

And, who knows, maybe they will still be the Canucks’ big rival. But first, they have to make the playoffs, which tells you a lot about what’s happened to the Kings over the last two seasons.

In addition to dropping a dreary 1-0 decision at The Rog, the Kings dropped to ninth place in the West with six games left on their schedule.

That loss, in fact, was a perfect microcosm of a season in which the Kings have fired their head coach; overpaid to land uninspired forward Jeff Carter; and generally under-achieved to an alarming degree (They are now 29th in goals scored, one spot behind Columbus).

True, they’d won six of their last seven before last night to at least stay in the playoff picture but that shine which seemed so bright two years has dulled considerably. And therein lies a cautionary tale for all NHL teams that aspire to greatness.

“The Kings will be better next year. Fuck Vancouver. They’ll never win the cup.”

I don’t care about next season. I care about this season.

Fuck Vancouver, well I think everyone can agree with this statement.

“They’ll never win the cup.” Well at least Vancouver made it to the finals last season. Last I checked, Los Angeles last made the finals in 93, and then Vancouver made the finals in 94, but that is history. What have you done for me lately?

I look at these past 2 games as big tests, which the Kings failed:

Boston 4 LA 2
Vancouver 1 LA 0

Both teams were in the Stanley Cup finals last season, and both are considered legit contenders this season also.

Beat teams, especially marquee teams like Boston and or Vancouver and then you can start chirping.

For the 1st game in a while Quick let in a bad goal, but it was one goal, should not have been that difficult to match that one goal, but they didn’t.

At least last season the Kings had an excuse no Kopitar and no Williams. This season they have no excuses, and have added Richards and Carter.

As it stands right now, the Kings need to win their remaining 6 games, preferably in regular time.

3 games are against teams which are a 2 points ahead or 1 point behind the Kings in the Western Conference standings. These games are must win games, just like the other 3 games are must win games.

If you want to care about next year, then go ahead, care about next year, but if you are going to post “The kings will be better next year. Fuck vancouver. They’ll never win the cup.” go to someplace else where everyone is content to say how great the boys did, and we’ll make the playoffs next year.

This isn’t some fuckin Bad New Bears movie, we aren’t the fuckin Chicago Cubs this is real. This is becoming another “Lombardi’ Cheese Steak” jerk off smoke and mirrors crap.

I for one have become tired of a narcissist who thinks he is so clever, and can lube everyone with KY and expect us to bend over and take it up the ass yet again.

I’m not trying to be a troll, who waits to strike when the Kings lose a game and post.

I have watched this team, agreed with some moves, disagreed with others, but always hoping for the best.

I believe this current collection of players have no reason to miss the playoffs this season, despite the poor start, and our GM waiting way to long to cut lose the guy who had done all he could with the players he was given.

Fuck Next Year, Fuck the Canucks, but Fuck Next Year.

I saw a promo for the Kings this morning on TV which had clips of Mike Richards and Jeff Carter scoring a shootout goal. I guess this was created a few days ago, because it had the Kings being the leaders of the Pacific Division, and being in the playoffs.

Opppps!

“Our Time is Now” not next season, and to be all happy and positive about the Kings just barely missing the playoffs is just some sad defense mechanism for those who accept failure.

I think there is some truth and some bullshit. First, LA never had the Sendins and Kessler to build around. Next, LA should not have broken the core and given up Simmonds. They should have brought in a new coach last season to take it to a new level. Then, the handling of the Doughty signing remains a joke. Laugh or cry, someone should tell him to cut out the windups.

Lombardi had a chance to pick up some ex-Chicago players two seasons ago and instead was after Kovalchuk…a major disaster that put the team completely out of step with the talent pool. Plus, DL’s the “next step” was saving money by hiring another “risk” player in Gagne. How smart was risking success or failure on a small, damaged player with a once storied past?

But to be fair, Lombardi did get hamstrung by the Penner deal…a deal he would never have had to consider if he hadn’t wasted a summer on Kovalchuck. But the Johnson deal I could live with but I wish it hadn’t been under these circumstances.

Then, Lombardi skipped over Hitchcock and was stuck with Sutter, the milk wagon horse of coaches. Got a bunch of wanna be also runs, then hire Sutter. Fuck, even that moron who coaches the power play is still here. Frigging hire me to coach the power play instead that lump. At least I’d fill water bottles and provide candid rink side interviews..

And what? Lombardi has the highest scoring wing in history walk by the office every day and he brings in Nichols? What was the secrete of Luc’s success? You listening Drew??? He didn’t take big back swings!!!! Snap Shots!!! You listening?

The lesson: Lombardi fell victim to the hype that the Kings were ready when in fact they weren’t. Only the fans were ready. Lombardi blew it. Hopefully we’ll see something of miracle and they will come together next season as they did two years ago. Last night was a Simmonds kind of game while we had Richards and Carter not doing much on offense.

Hey USHA….. I think that’s an effing great post of yours. That’s what I think.
I read that article and while it’s Vancouver this and that and whatever b.s., I’d be lying if I didn’t say there was something in it.

The feeling I had at the time of the Vancouver series was that they were really building something brick by brick…. Doughty was shining. Then all of a sudden we get Richards and Carter both on very long term contracts…… for better or for worse. We’ll see. Maybe Richards comes back next year and blows everyone away. But quite honestly, if someone told me we were giving up Simmer and Schenn (no. 1 prospect in THN Futures as we all know) for someone who was gonna score two goals over thirty games I would have probably vomited.

I had doubts about Certain aspects of DL’s construction mode if you will back two years ago. Now I do big time and have had all this year. Essentially because of the big contracts they don’t have much wiggle room. I’m very bothered by the lack of speed (still) on the team and now I’m not sure how much he could maneuver even if he did know how to do so (speaking of Lombardi). So I just at the moment don’t have that same feeling I did as I did two years ago. Still love the team and will always be pulling for them, but something just doesn’t seem quite right. A team struggling to just make the playoffs….. how can I imagine them winning the cup? And what difference would there be next year that would make be feel differently.

CHEMISTRY IS SUCH A HUGE INGREDIENT IN ANY TEAM, And being balanced to the type of game that is being played NOW, not twelve years ago. The same way as passing is a reality in the nfl nowadays, skill and speed are a reality of the nhl. I can’t see a defensive team trapping it’s way to a cup the way you could years ago.

“d now I’m not sure how much he could maneuver even if he did know how to do so (speaking of Lombardi). So I just at the moment don’t have that same feeling I did as I did two years ago”

Exactly, Drew. Like marching in formation and falling out of step. You have to skip (in this case a season) in order to fall in step.

The tides shifted and look what came out the tube (and it wasn’t a surfer). The new rules were suppose to open up scoring. Didn’t happen. The commentators claimed the new rules would open the ice for smaller players. Still waiting.

Defense will have to do it (and we have the foundation-proved against Vancouver, St Louis and Boston) but then we have a white elephant in 5’10” Loktionov along with sub-elephants 5’11 Richards, and 5’11” Richardson. It took a 6’3″ 235 monster willing to throw his weight to spark the Richardson line. I’m sure hope the front office took notice.

The Canucks carry only two players under 6′,,,and both are on injured reserve. LA has 4 plus Loktionov. Hey, ever wonder if Doughty is a full 72″? Does he get to drive an Autopia?
(PS Doughty will be great, again, just not yet.)

Anyway, I rambling at this point. Suffice it to say, More Speed, More Size, Bigger Brained Coaches. (Six game win streak and these guys are genus? When other teams in the Pacific went on 10 game tears? OMG, reeks of desperation.)

USHA, you’ve got ‘it’. Not sure what the ‘it’ is exactly, but you and the inimitable Player-X and Dutch, (and a few others) make this site so much fun to read.

And if you care one day to explain to me…. or to your dog (if you have a dog), or even to a flower, why the f— Lombardi hasn’t yet figured out that this is a league that demands speed…… please write a wee synopsis and then I can read it when the need overtakes me.

You will have to see this USHA, it’s a graph using height and weight, seperately, charting the NHL by team. L.A. is second largest by weight, middle of pack in height, but their height is same as Vancouver and Chicago. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh and Detroit are much smaller and much lighter. The url for the graph is first below, came from a Pension Plan Puppets article Feb 29, 2012, article url is second, scroll down to section 4 “Size Matters”. Apologies about links, please paste them into another tab so you don’t leave S&S.

Player-X, thanks! Shoot, you could have asked me to bet and you would have dinner…and drinks, and maybe even the car. Nix that observation/comment…

I suppose it’s hometown bias on my part…just looks like Richards, the 6’1″ Lewis, Loktionov get pushed around quite a bit more then most.

I wonder if the Bell Curve ius skewed at one end with Carter, Westgarth and Mt. Penner, at the other several smaller players while the balance is below medium? (won’t give up, will I?)

Thanks for the links. Weight/Height correlation to standings are all over the place…except at the extremes.

Quoting the article: “(LA’s) below-average height for the second-highest average weight in the NHL”, I wondered if this was an indication as to why team speed is low until I saw Phoenix, who I consider very quick. Again, thanks!

Agreed…It’s all about matching the qualities of your players to the style of your game: To oversimplify: Deano wants solid defense, so he gets big defensemen. He wants strong board play from his forwards so they can help defensively first: so he gets big guys that may be slower. Detroit wants puck handlers and swarming, with D that starts in the forecheck and backcheck, so he gets guys that are fast and stick-savvy, and can also shade toward offensive talent by sacrificing size. Not to an extreme, but with shades and degrees of emphasis.

All based on the truth that there just aren’t that many huge guys with speed and hands: so, you settle for proficiency in one area while knowingly settling for lesser proficiency in another.

For me, you need to diversify within lines according to assigned roles. Our third line does well checking because of Lewis’ speed, Penner’s size and Stoll’s faceoffs and smarts. They each have other talents that overlap, of course, but as an illustration of the mixing of size and speed and talent among a line, this one is most obvious.

You sort of indirectly responded to a question I had had above. Not a direct answer here, but I’ll take it. I’ve always wondered what would be so terrible about going after a guy like Carl Hagelin. The Rangers got him in the sixth round in 07. They really like him a lot. And I know there are other players like him around. He plays tough but has a good skill level.
He’s 5’11” 178 lbs. So not a shrimp, but not huge either. It goes to your point about mixing. Diversity. And diversity as I see it is not something the management does well.
Sure they draft Acevedo’s, Kozun’s, Moller’s, etc, but whats the chance of those guys making the nhl (again in the case of Moller)?

So it’s the bigger slower guys who seem to dominate matters on the Kings and I think they’ve sacrificed too much in the way of speed. You may have blogged on the issue of speed, but if you did I’d be curious to get your thoughts as I’ve never seen you speak about that particular issue.

Because I don’t live in LA, I had to watch the game on NBC Sports. NBC piggybacked TSN’s broadcast (TSN is to Vancouver like Bob Miller and Jim Fox are to the Kings). Anyway, I had to watch the game with the volume turned down because I couldn’t handle listening to the TSN announcers belittling the Kings while at the same time performing on air oral sex on each of the Cuntucks!! I fucking hate Vancouver and everything that resides there!!! With that said, I had a difficult time finding anything in that article that could be reasonably argued. That SUCKS!! Fucking fire Lombardi!! PLEASE!!! I fucking hate Vancouver!!!

Yeah, I was gonna say….. all I heard were legitimate comments. For example pointing out how much they’ve struggled and were 29th in the league offensively. Also that Richards has Two goals in Thirty games and that he had gone up till the 2nd period last night w/o a shot on goal in three consecutive games.
Not really much to argue there. He was just pointing out the facts. And as for JR pointing out things about the Canucks method of attack and how it creates opportunities…… I was just jealous because I do Not like the Canucks, but I love the flow of their game on the attack.

More importantly, at least the Kings don’t cheap shot guys’ knees (Kesler) and bite people (Burrows) and go down as if shot when someone delivers a legal hit (Sedin, Sedin, et al). This team does all the instigating (Lapierre), but never fights, and instead lay out cheap shots but don’t back them up.

L.A. can improve, but Vancouver’s players are what they are, and even winning would not gain them any real respect.

I would rather have L.A.’s problems than Vancouver’s reputation and lack of character.

The article is a cursory look, clearly condescending, and overly trumpets the Canuck’s meager virtue of having barely beaten a sluggish Kings team, only due to one bad goal. The team is like the fanbase is like their media is like the team: classless, hollow bullies that shrink from actual confrontation.